The Paralympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the summer and winter Paralympic Games. The Paralympic Games are a major international multi-sports event for athletes with physical disabilities or intellectual impairments. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness and cerebralpalsy. Paralympic sports refers to organized competitive sporting activities as part of the global Paralympic movement. These sports are organized and run under the supervision of the International Paralympic Committee and other international sports federations.
Organized sport for persons with physical disabilities developed out of rehabilitation programs. Following World War 2, in response to the needs of large numbers of injured ex-service members and civilians, sport was introduced as a key part of rehabilitation. Sport for rehabilitation grew into recreational sport and then into competitive sport. The pioneer of this approach was Ludwig Guttmann of the Stroke Mandeville Hospital in England. In 1948, while the Olympic Games being held in London , England, he organized a sports competition for wheelchair athletes at Stoke Mandeville. This was the origin of the Stoke Mandeville Games, which evolved into the modern Paralympic Games.
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